Hobart Henley Movies

Night World is an astonishingly compact 57-minute extravaganza, all of which takes place at the upscale (but somewhat less-than-swank) nightclub owned by good-natured racketeer Happy MacDonald (Boris Karloff) (complete with a winning, grinning smile). In a story arc of no more than a couple of hours, MacDonald is betrayed by his faithless wife (Doris Revier), who has been cavorting with the club's stage producer (Russell Hopton), and who sets her husband up to be killed by a rival; the gentle, articulate African-American doorman (Clarence Muse) learns the fate of his beloved wife, whose stay in the hospital has been a source of worry for him all night; despondent socialite Michael Rand (Lew Ayres), the son of an acquitted murderess, meets chorus girl Ruth Taylor (Mae Clarke), who turns out to have a heart-of-gold; and gets to confront his mother (Hedda Hopper), a viciously self-centered and venal woman. But Michael and Ruth soon find themselves caught in the midst of the mob's attempt on Happy's life, and facing a pair of assassins who would just as soon kill them as look at them. All of these story threads are interspersed between a good deal of backstage banter -- including a tense pair of vignette with tough-guy Ed Powell (George Raft, about as scary as he ever looked on screen) -- and a Busby Berkeley-choreographed dance number that, despite the low-budget and obviously fast shooting schedule of this picture, manages to work in the latter's celebrated overhead camera angles and other requisite visual touches. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

A naive, wealthy small-town girl, bored with her routine life, falls for a dashing con artist who has come looking for fresh marks to swindle. He soon charms her into faking her prominent father's name on a letter of endorsement, which he presents to the other local merchants. They willingly give him all sorts of goodies and he prepares his escape, but not before conning the girl into becoming his wife. After their wedding night in a sleazy hotel, he abandons her. Fortunately, by the story's end, she is able to reassemble her shattered life and find happiness. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Le Grande Mare is the French-language version of Paramount's The Big Pond (1930), with Maurice Chevalier and Claudette Colbert in their original roles as Pierre Mirande and Barbara Billings. Pierre is a Venetian tour guide, who falls in love with wealthy American tourist Barbara. Her male relatives think that Pierre is merely a fortune-hunter, but Barbara's mom persuades her husband to give Pierre a job in his chewing-gum factory. The menfolk finally approve of Barbara's choice when Pierre comes up with the brilliant, money-making idea of coating the gum with liquor! Both La Grande Mare and The Big Pond were filmed simultaneously at Paramount's Long Island studios, but if the stars were tired out by this procedure, one would never know it from their enthusiastic performances. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Jimmy Durante made his movie debut in Roadhouse Nights, a strange amalgam of musical comedy and gangster melodrama. In truth, Durante is a special added attraction, together with his nightclub partners Lou Clayton and Eddie Jackson. The film's nominal star is Helen Morgan, a nitery chanteuse whose gangster bosses head a murderous bootleg operation. Charlie Ruggles portrays an ineveterate drinker who frequents Morgan's club; actually, Ruggles is a news reporter whose phony drunkenness is a cover for his investigation of the bootleg ring. Filmed at Paramount's East Coast studios in Astoria, Long Island, Roadhouse Nights is typically brash and brassy Prohibition-era entertainment, with a reasonably "straight" performance from comic actor Ruggles and a few hauntingly rendered songs from Helen Morgan. The most succinct review for this film came from a "non-professional:" When asked what he thought of Jimmy Durante's first talking picture, his father Bartolomeo grumbled "Talk, talk, talk." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

When blue-blooded widower Robert Rossiter (Walter Huston) announces his plans to marry salesgirl Joyce Roamer (Claudette Colbert), his family goes out of their way to stop the engagement. Despite their original suspicion that Joyce (Colbert) was only involved with their father for his money, however, the upper crust family eventually welcomes her as one of their own. The Lady Lies was directed by Hobart Henley and also features actors Charlie Ruggles, Patricia Deering, and Tom Brown. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi

In her last silent film, Norma Shearer plays Dolly, aka Angel Face, a young woman engaged in blackmailing rich libertines. Cheated out of her loot by a couple of former associates, Bradley (Lowell Sherman) and Gwen (Gwen Lee), Dolly commits a bit of larceny but manages to skip town with her latest victim, Steve Crandall (Johnny Mack Brown), a Southern-fried cement tycoon whom she hastily marries. But Steve turns out to be a pauper, his much vaunted plantation actually belonging to a neighbor, and Dolly's game is up when Brad and Gwen make an unannounced arrival. But Dolly has fallen in love with her poor but hardworking husband and is ready to take her punishment. Steve, meanwhile, convinces a judge to release Dolly into his custody and the lovers are reunited. A Lady of Chance was released with added dialogue scenes but none of them apparently featured Miss Shearer, who instead made her talkie debut in the courtroom melodrama The Trial of Mary Dugan (1929). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Wickedness Preferred was another of MGM's popular Lew Cody-Aileen Pringle star vehicles. This time around, Cody is cast as novelist Anthony Dare, while Pringle is his efficiency-expert wife Kitty. When their money runs out, the Dares set up housekeeping in Central Park, which is fun for a while but gets awfully tired awfully soon. The marriage is briefly threatened by the arrival of blonde vamp Baby Burton (Mary McAllister), but Anthony and Kitty ultimately decide to give their union a second chance. The opening title of Wickedness Preferred says it all: "Marriage is like a cafeteria. You take the first thing that looks good and pay for it later." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The career of Charles Ray was on a downhill slide by the time he made this picture, based on a novel by Rex Beach. It had been filmed once before, in 1917, but this version, made by MGM, played up its comedy aspects. As wealthy city boy Bob Wharton, Ray goes against his usual rube type with mixed results. Wharton is a spendthrift who elopes with Lory Knight (Eleanor Boardman), a beauty contest winner from South Carolina. When she realizes that Wharton knows more about going out on the town than he does about honest, hard work, she leaves him and returns to South Carolina. Wharton follows after her and gets a job as a shoe salesman. While he's making good, Carter Lane (Ernest Gillen) tries to win Lory over. Lane's sister, Bernice (Sally O'Neil), meanwhile, vamps Wharton and compromises him. The irate Lane men are determined that Wharton must marry Bernice or die, but she finally confesses that the situation was all her doing, and he is innocent. Having proved he can be a success, Wharton reunites with Lory. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

This mildly amusing comedy, based on a play by Cosmo Hamliton, was light on plot and just a touch racy (at least for the silent era). The lively John Rathburn (Lew Cody) is married to the more sedate Margaret (Eleanor Boardman). Their next-door neighbors have the opposite situation -- Elise Moran (Renee Adoree) is a "jazzy" young lady, while her husband, Victor (Creighton Hale), is more of a homebody. The two couples reach impasses in their respective marriages, and Elise flirts with John, while Margaret finds comfort with Victor. Margaret, however, is not interested in a separation and when she discovers that the one thing the two men have in common is a love of good cooking, she comes up with a plan. The couples visit a lodge in the mountains and each wife cooks for the other husband. John quickly tires of eating out of a can, which is Elise's culinary style, and he decides to make amends to Margaret. Victor, meanwhile, realizes that a little machismo works wonders on Elise. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Norma Shearer stars in this routine light comedy. Katherine Emerson (Shearer) decides to leave her small hometown in Iowa to make good in New York. The train taking her East is involved in a wreck and she winds up with a handbag belonging to Madeline (Miss Dupont), one of the fatalities. In the purse is a note from Nicholas Wentworth (the worldly Lew Cody, for once not playing a villain), inviting the young woman to stay at his apartment while he is in Europe. The only condition is that she vacates it by May 1, when he returns. Katherine decides to take on Madeline's identity and take over the apartment. This way, she is able to live in New York in high style. However, her parents (James Corrigan and Mary Carr) arrive unexpectedly and start asking too many questions. Katherine lies and says she is married to Wentworth, while continuing to see Dick Wayne (William Haines). Wentworth returns early, creating even more complications. However, he falls in love with Katherine almost immediately -- and the end of the picture is easily guessed. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

With its racy title and emphasis on jazz parties and youth, this romantic drama was a typical mid-'20s release. But being an early release from the newly formed MGM, it also featured a great cast, headed by the suave Adolphe Menjou. Menjou plays Arthur Merrill, whose fast lifestyle has made him old before his time. Through Dr. Eustace (Jean Hersholt) and the miracles of modern medicine, he is able to obtain a rejuvenation treatment which restores his lost youth. Merrill has met thoroughly modern flapper Penelope Stevens (Eleanor Boardman) and wants to win her. After he lures her to his apartment and discovers that she's a "nice girl," he can't help but give her a fatherly lecture for her behavior. Then it turns out he really is a father; Brock Farley (Conrad Nagel) arrives from Ohio with a letter proving that he is Merrill's son. Penelope and Farley fall in love, and Merrill decides he's better off acting his own age. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

The Turmoil was one of Booth Tarkington's most popular novels, and when Universal brought it to the screen, they assigned it to director Hobart Henley, who had directed another Tarkington book-turned-film, The Flirt. James Sheridan Sr. (Emmett Corrigan) is a powerful industrial force in his town, and he expects his three sons to follow in his footsteps. Two of them, Jim (Theodore Von Eltz) and Roscoe (Edward Hearn), willingly follow his decree, but Bibbs (George Hackathorne), the youngest, wants to become a writer. Sheridan forces him to go to work at the shop and he falls apart. The other sons are faring even worse -- Roscoe is so wrapped up in business that his wife Sybil (Eileen Pearcy) gets involved with a womanizer. Jim is drowned when a dam he is working on bursts. Mary Ventrees (Eleanor Boardman) had become engaged to Jim even though she didn't love him, and Bibbs falls for her. He knows that her family has little money, so he proposes. When she turns him down, Sheridan, who has come to see the error of his ways, works on Bibbs' behalf to bring the young people together. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi